Catching Our Eye News Roundup, July 9, 2026

Every morning in the Ohio Capital Journal’s free newsletter, The Eye-Opener, we round up the news and commentary from across Ohio and around the country and world that is catching our attention. We call this feature Catching Our Eye, republished here.

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Catching Our Eye

• Pay to play. Cleveland.com’s Jeremy Pelzer reports, “Doomed Ohio submetering bill passed amid flurry of GOP campaign donations.”

Donors representing apartment utility companies gave nearly $72,000 to top Ohio lawmakers and Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy around the same time legislators shoved through legislation in June that benefited them, state records show.

The timing of the donations led one key Democratic state senator to accuse GOP lawmakers of only moving the since-vetoed bill because of the contributions – a charge that legislative leaders sharply denied.

Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed the bill two weeks after its passage, saying it was “fundamentally flawed” and did not do enough to protect consumers.

• Teaching only one way to success. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler reports, “DeWine signs 13 bills, including one requiring schools teach the ‘Success Sequence’“

Gov. Mike DeWine signed 13 bills into law Tuesday, leftovers from legislation lawmakers pushed through in June before a break that’s expected to continue until after the November election.

Among those was Senate Bill 276, which started as an uncontroversial plan addressing licenses for school psychologists coming to Ohio who hold licenses in six other states. But it got partisan opposition when a conservative-backed proposal called “the Success Sequence” was added last month.

• Baby delivery deserts. The Ohio Newsroom’s Erin Gottsacker reports, “One of Ohio’s fastest growing counties will soon lose a labor and delivery unit.”

More than two dozen hospitals in Ohio have closed or consolidated maternity care since 2018, according to a count by the Ohio Hospital Association. By the end of this month, another one will join the mix.

OhioHealth plans to close its labor and delivery unit at Grady Memorial Hospital in central Ohio’s Delaware County on July 31.

• Vivek’s campaign credit card. WCMH’s Katie Millard and Colleen Marshall report, “Lawmaker files complaint alleging Ramaswamy improperly reported funds.”

Ohio Senate Democrats filed a complaint with the secretary of state Tuesday alleging Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy violated campaign finance law by failing to disclose $500,000 in payments.

State Sen. Kent Smith (D-Euclid) filed the complaint on Tuesday, alleging Ramaswamy and his running mate, state Senate President Rob McColley, violated campaign finance law by not specifying what the credit cards were used for. Smith argues that the credit card payments could reflect any purchases, allegedly violating the specificity that the law requires.